Monday, December 01, 2008

Nature's Royal Variety Performance

[A frozen, frost-covered Braidwood Loch]

Winter has definitely come to Carluke! Today's sub-zero temperatures would not have stopped me playing tennis (outdoor) this morning [several times in the past we've shovelled snow off the court to allow us to play] but my playing partner had another commitment this morning [or so he said] so the tennis was off.
Instead, I dug out the camera.
[I had to dig it out; it was buried under a pile of papers, folders and books on the big chair in my study!]
I set out on a cool (very cool) photo-shoot.

Braidwood Loch... (in reality it's just a village duckpond, but don't tell the residents of Braidwood I said that. It is, in any case, a very attractive duckpond in all seasons) ...
Braidwood Loch was frozen over and had a fresh layer of frost covering the frozen surface, like a dusting of icing sugar on a cake.

I just love the many different textures that a hard frost is able to create on trees, grass, plants, spiders' webs etc. In some ways, I think frost can sometimes do an even more spectacular transformation-job than snow.


On Wednesday evening the team of volunteers will put up the Christmas tree and decorations in the church, but now matter how creative and artistic they may be (and they usually do a brilliant job) they are not going to be able to compete with Nature's exterior decoration skills.

To top off a spectacular Natural Variety Performance, late this afternoon there was a lunar eclipse of Venus (or more accurately an occultation of Venus.)
Unfortunately, while my camera can do a pretty good job of capturing 'The Frost Show,' it struggles with the night sky and objects as far as away as Venus. This is the best I could do at capturing Venus as she re-appeared from behind the moon.


And all of this is free... no need to pay for a television licence to see the show!

[Readers from outside of the UK might wonder what this is. We pay a licence fee which funds the BBC.]

8 comments:

Alice said...

I know what the pink candle's for :)

Anonymous said...

we saw it too!! Amazing
The Browns

Anonymous said...

we saw it too!! Amazing
The Browns

Alice said...

Have emailed church office link for pink candle :)

Anonymous said...

So what is the pink candel for?

IAIN CUNNINGHAM said...

I'll say a bit about the pink advent candle at a later date - i.e. after Sunday. (There seem to be a number of different explanations.)

reynardnursery said...

having stumbled across your blog one night when i couldnt sleep i find myself in the same situation tonight. local lad like yourself its refreshing to read your take on life and see your wonderfull pictures. I do wish so many more people would use blog as away of sharing lifes ups and downs. I find comfort in writing from withen , whether read or not, it seems to help me follow lifes path. i look forward to reading more . ANDREW SCOTT

Cherie said...

Fantastic photos, Iain! Breathtaking even.